1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to foot measurement systems and methods; and, more particularly, to foot measurement systems and methods to scan someone's foot from the bottom and/or oblique topside directions for generating pixel data for the foot shape, and then to calculate and obtain main foot-dimensions and other information required for last design (for example, shoes design) using the generated pixel data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, there has been known a method for fabrication of shoes or appliances for foot-remedy, in which molds for human feet are made using plaster bandages and the shoes or appliances for foot-remedy are fabricated using the molds with synthetic resins having suitable properties. In a case of fabricating general shoes made to order, a shoes maker draws the bottom outline of orderer's foot in a condition of putting the orderer's foot on a sheet of paper and measures the main sizes for the foot with a ruler. Such tasks are required for extraction of orderer's foot shape. The shoes maker then makes a foot framework fixed to the measured foot sizes to fabricate shoes with using the foot framework.
However, there are some shortcomings in the fabrication of mold by the plaster bandage and the fabrication of the foot-remedy shoes or appliances based on the mold. Namely, it takes a long time for performing the task, which does not allow mass production and may allow only individual fabrication for a particular person so that other persons cannot use the fabricated foot-remedy appliances. Furthermore, in the case of using the touch type foot-dimension's measurement method, the person to be measured should maintain an immobile posture for a long time, otherwise precise measurement cannot be obtained. In spite of the inconvenience, the measured data are not reproducible.
The fabrication of general shoes made to order also has inconveniences that the shoes maker measures orderer 's foot sizes manually and that it takes a long time for the measurement. In spite of the inconveniences, the measurement cannot be precise so that the shoes maker cannot make the most suitable shoes to orderer's feet.